Transfer essence
The Dark Side Sourcebook |area=Control, Sense, and Alter |inventor= |notable practitioners=*Andeddu *Dessel Bane *Valkorion *Set HarthUltimate Adversaries *Exar KunTales of the Jedi: The Sith War 6: Dark Lord *Callista MingChildren of the Jedi *Karness MuurStar Wars: Vector *Dantius PalpatineDark Empire *ZashStar Wars: The Old Republic |affiliation=Dark Jedi}} Transfer essence, also known as essence transfer or transfer life, was a radical dark side Force power used to transfer a person's consciousness into another body, or in some cases an inanimate object. Ancient Dark Lords and other powerful darksiders used this technique to cheat death again and again, haunting their tombs and possessing those who stumbled across their sarcophagi in order to continue their reign of terror. In more recent eras, masters of this dark side art had used advanced cloning technology to assure their immortality. Description The power enabled the wielder's spirit to survive the death of their organic body by usurping control of a suitable receptacle. If the invading consciousness was powerful enough, it could override and expel the mind of the target body. However, it was nearly impossible to overcome a spirit already residing in a body,Dark Empire Sourcebook and the practitioner's own body disintegrated in the attempt. If the target resisted the possession attempt, or if the user failed in their attempt to bond with the object, their disembodied spirit, with nowhere else to go, was consigned to Chaos. Given the power's inherent difficulty, its unpredictable nature, and the unspeakable consequences of failure, most would-be practitioners in the modern era chose to have their bodies cloned by trained technicians and kept in a hidden safe-house, unconscious in stasis tanks until they were needed. The clones, lacking life experiences or a sense of self, were each little more than a blank slate, upon which the original could imprint their consciousness with ease.Dark Empire endnotes Users Among the earliest Dark Lords to use this technique was Karness Muur, a Lord of the Sith Empire, who bound his spirit to the artifact that bore his name, the Muur Talisman. The talisman allowed Muur not only to cheat death, but also to take possession of whoever wore the Talisman, unless the wearer's willpower was strong enough to resist him, as was the case with Celeste Morne.Star Wars: Vector The Sith Emperor used this ability, or a similar ability, to put his essence into another body which he called, and was publicly known as the Voice of the Emperor. The Children of the Emperor also had some of the Emperor's essence in them, which made it possible for him to effect his presence on them. Unlike his spiritual descendants, Exar Kun, Dark Lord during the era of the Great Sith War, used this power not to suborn another body or possess an object but to anchor his spirit to the Massassi Temples on Yavin 4. When his apprentice Ulic Qel-Droma betrayed him to the Jedi, Kun called all of his Massassi followers into the Temple of Fire, then used their life force (and the alchemical apparatus left by his predecessor Naga Sadow) to abandon his body, drawing on the remarkable focusing energies of the Massassi Temples to anchor himself to the physical world. Kun's spirit remained in hiding on Yavin IV for over four thousand years, driven slowly mad by his bodiless existence and the unthinkable isolation of the jungle moon.Dark Apprentice His spirit was finally vanquished by the students at Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy, seven years after the Battle of Endor.Champions of the Force Dessel Bane learned this power after acquiring Andeddu's holocron. The gatekeeper of the holocron refused to teach this power to Darth Bane, so Bane decided to rip the information out of the holocron, absorbing it directly into his mind. He later attempted to transfer his essence into his apprentice, Rain Zannah, during their final duel, he used the power to shuttle his consciousness through a series of cloned bodies. However, Set Harth's clones were provided by discreet third-party technicians, and never displayed degradation of the kind the Emperor experienced. Nevertheless, Harth tended to discard them around their 30th year. Unconfirmed reports suggest that he persisted to at least the Yuuzhan Vong Invasion —if true, he must have gone through dozens of clones over the intervening centuries. Hego Damask was aware of the concept of transfer essence. However, he deliberately avoided using it, as he intended to maintain his own body in complete immortality. Cronal also became aware of this ability after intense study of various dark side sites. However, he had no intention of using the ability to transfer his mind to a clone but rather use it to take over a living sentient body through Pawns. He later attempted to accomplish this feat in order to place his mind in Luke Skywalker's at the Battle of Mindor.Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor The crime lord Durga Besadii Tai claimed to know transfer essence and implied that he'll use it on Lemelisk should he fail on the Darksaber. However, Lemelisk wasn't sure if this was true, or even if he was skilled at it to Palpatine's level, fearing that the result will be botched. Perhaps the most unusual examples of this technique in practice occurred in 18 BBY, and again in 12 ABY, when Jedi Knight Callista Ming made use of the power to transfer her soul into the mainframe of the Imperial battlestation Eye of Palpatine. She was able to "inhabit" the gunnery computer of the dreadnought for some three decades before swapping her essence with the willing Cray Mingla, although this came at the cost of her ability to use the light side of the Force. This incident differs from nearly all other reported examples of spirit transference in several ways. First, Callista was able to use this predominantly dark side ability, usually applied by powerful Dark Lords, to transfer her consciousness into an inanimate object, despite her commitment to the light side of the Force. Nor did she require alchemical apparatus or additional life energy. Second, rather than becoming a disembodied shade, Callista became part of the Eye gunnery mainframe, acting more like a self-aware computer program than a manifest presence. Thirdly, once she transferred her spirit into the body of Jedi trainee Cray Mingla, she could only touch the dark side of the Force. This was unusual, since both Callista and Cray were Force-sensitive. Since she remained committed to the Jedi way (even going so far as to help Luke Skywalker train new Jedi at the Yavin IV academy), she was essentially cut off from the Force, unlike Set Harth, or Exar Kun.Star Wars: Darksaber As none of the darksiders had any compunctions about using the dark side, this "handicap", if they possessed it, was essentially meaningless. The dark side entity Abeloth utilized an ability similar to transfer essence, whereby she took control of various people and made them avatar bodies for herself.Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi Appearances *''Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War 6: Dark Lord'' *''Star Wars: The Old Republic'' *''Star Wars: Dynasty of Evil'' * *''Light and Dark'' *''Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor'' *''Dark Empire'' *''Dark Empire II'' *''Star Wars: Empire's End'' *''I, Jedi'' *''Star Wars: Dark Apprentice'' *''Star Wars: Champions of the Force'' *''Star Wars: Children of the Jedi'' *''Star Wars: Darksaber'' *''Fate of the Jedi: Vortex'' *''Star Wars: Legacy—War 6'' Notes and references Category:Alter powers Category:Control powers Category:Dark side powers Category:Sense powers